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Monday, September 23, 2013

Vatican
City, 22 September 2013 (VIS) – The final encounter in Pope
Francis' pastoral visit to Cagliari was with the young who, at 5
p.m., awaited him in Largo Carlo Felice, where in the morning he had
met with representatives from the world of work.

Francis
commented on the Gospel reading which related the story of the
miraculous fish, inviting those present not to “let yourselves be
overwhelmed by pessimism and distrust … when a young person is
distrustful towards life, when a young person loses hope … these
merchants of death … offer a route for when you are sad, without
hope without trust, without courage. Please, do not sell your youth
to those who sell death! You know what I am talking about”.

“Trust
in Jesus”, he continued, “and when I say this, I want to be
sincere and say to you: I do not come here to sell you an illusion. I
come here to say: there is a Person who can carry you through: trust
in Him! He is Jesus, and Jesus is not an illusion! Difficulties must
not frighten you, but rather press you to overcome them. Put out to
sea and cast your nets wide … with Jesus everything changes. The
Word of the Lord has filled the nets, and the Word of the Lord gives
effect to the missionary work of the disciples. Following Jesus is
demanding, it means not being content with small objectives, with
navigating close to the coast, but rather aiming high, with courage.
… When it seems that all is still and stagnant, when personal
problems disturb us, social unease does not find the necessary
solutions, we must not give up. The path is Jesus: let him embark
with us and let us set out to sea with Him! Everything changes with
Jesus. … Without making too many human calculations and without
worrying if the reality around you corresponds to that about which
you are sure. Set out to sea, come out of yourselves; let us come out
from our little world and open ourselves to God, so that we might be
ever more open to our brothers”.

Since
on 21 September the Pope celebrates sixty years since he was given
his priestly vocation, at the age of seventeen, Francis affirmed that
he has never regretted his decision because “even in the darkest
moments, in moments of sin, in moments of frailty, in moments of
failure, he always looked to Jesus, Who never abandoned him”.

Before
concluding the meeting with his final blessing, the Pope mentioned
the suicide attack outside a church in Peshawar, Pakistan at midday
today. “There are mistaken choices, choices of destruction. Today,
in Pakistan, because of a wrong decision, a choice of hatred, of war,
there was an attack in which over 70 people died. This choice cannot
stand. It serves nothing. Only the path of peace can build a better
world. But if you do not do it yourselves, no-one else will! This is
the problem, and this is the question I leave you with. 'Am I
willing, am I willing to take the route to building a better world?'
Let us pray an Our Father for all those who lost their lives in this
attack in Pakistan. … And may the Virgin always help us to work for
a better world, to take the path of construction, the path of peace,
and never the route of destruction and war".

Following
the meeting the Pope departed by air from Cagliari, arriving in Rome
at 8 p.m. and returning to the Vatican shortly after.